Genesis 2.

18-25Relationship30.01.2011Introduction

The King’s Speech

Questions can and have been asked about the relation between The King’sSpeech and history, but there can be little doubt thatGeorge VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, did play a significantpart in the support of our Nation during the Second World War and thatGeorge VI, ‘Bertie’, felt a tremendous burden to fulfil the responsibilitythat had been thrust upon him by the abdication of his brother, Edward.

The opening question I want to pose this morning, reminiscent of my

introduction a couple of weeks back, is where did the values that shapedthe life of King George and, for that matter, the British people at a time ofgreat crisis, come from? My answer is that just as it was the eclipse ofChristian belief and values led to the rise of Nazism in Germany, so it wasthe adherence, broadly speaking, to Christian belief and values in theUnited Kingdom, that led to our commitment, albeit belated, to stand bythose countries that had become the victims of German aggression.

This talk of values might appear somewhat abstract, but it does relateclosely to what we are doing today by way of baptising Blake. Let me askanother question. Is it right to teach children about the Christian faith atschool? The Pop Connection, held here on Thursday, was extremely wellreceived, but I have heard people say that such events are a subtle form ofindoctrination. My reply has always been, yes, but so too is the every TVprogramme, magazine and PC game. In other words, there is no ‘neutral’territory. If we don’t seek to teach our kids values, then someone else will.That doesn’t mean, by the way, that I think children should not be exposedto what others think.Christian values come from Christian belief which, in turn, comes from theChristian story and there is no place in the bible is more important inframing that story than Genesis 1-3 which is why we are spending time inthese chapters currently.

The poster outside the church says it all…

I. Human beings are SOCIAL

Although this passage very much centres on the interaction between maleand female, the man and woman, Adam and Eve - indeed these verses tellcould be viewed solely as a description of the first ever wedding ceremony– its scope is far broader, taking in the whole of human existence.

In the creation account of Ch.1, we heard the Lord pronounce the worldHe had brought into being ‘good’ six times (1.4,10,12,18,21,25) and then,following the creation of humanity, ‘very good’ (1.31). It therefore comesas something of a surprise to hear so soon the discordant note of v.18.18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helpersuitable for him.”

What we learn here is that men and women are made for relationship orcommunity. We are social beings (hence the slide). Animals can providesome company (vv.19.20), but are unable to offer the depth of relationshipthat we need to prosper. Sorry Max! Indeed, the passage seems to me tosuggest that others are necessary for us to understand and relate toourselves23 The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

c.f. Blocher p.96

This is a startling admission. The bible is teaching us that God, on His

own, in spite of His great power and glory, is incapable of Himself fullysatisfying our needs. Not that this represents a failure on His part, rather itis part of his design, His intention being (c.f. 1.18) that humankind reflectHis own character which is relational.There are a number of important implications for us:

i. As society

The ‘bottom line’ alone cannot be regarded as the sole measure of a

healthy society or even a successful one. Attention must be given topeople’s need for community e.g.

c.f. my visit to York

The Rowntree family

Seebohm Rowntree and the Welfare State ii. As church

Church should be a place where people are able to explore more fully whatit means to be human. Of course, we mustn’t seek to simply replicate whattakes place successfully in wider society and so form ourselves into somesort of ghetto. But where this need is not being met, as a matter of serviceto our fellow men and women, and as part of a broader strategy by whichwe also share out Christian convictions, we should play our part e.g.

It also goes without saying that relationships within the church should beexemplary as we seek, with God’s help, to model what community means.Here the community formed by Jesus – the first disciples – and the earlychurch provide fine models42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to thebreaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the manywonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together andhad everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyonewho had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to theirnumber daily those who were being saved. Acts 2,42 iii. As individuals

o How we think of ourselves

‘No man is an island’, wrote John Donne, and yet some many of us are

o How we relate to others

It is through the giving and receiving of love that we become fully human

c.f. The Velveteen Rabbit

o The decisions we make in life

o where we shopo where we liveo the sort of houses we live ino our attitude to our neighbourso our attitude to our neighbourhoodo the way we run our businesseso where we send our kids to schoolo where we attend churcho the sort of church we attend

Mark Greene book

II. Human beings are SEXUAL

Human beings are made for relationships with one another. Morespecifically, women are made for men and men are made for women, Inthe context, of Genesis 2, this means that human society finds its mostfundamental expression in marriage and family life. Not exclusively so,however, not least because the one person who, as far as Christians areconcerned, is the most complete human being who has ever lived, wasboth single and didn’t relate that well to His family. I’m talking, ofcourse, about Jesus Christ.

There is a vast amount of material that could be covered under this

heading. I want to offer a quick overview under three points

i. Sex

We might as well get that one out the way first 

It is not an area where the church has scored particularly highly over theyears

o Yves of Chartres – a Christian should abstain from sex on at least five

out of seven days of the week

….on Thursdays in memory of the arrest of our Lord, on Fridays in honour of hisdeath, on Saturdays in honour of the Virgin Mary, on Sundays in commemoration ofthe resurrection and on Mondays out of respect for the faithful departed

o Bernard of Clairvaux – 86 sermons of the Song of Songs not one of

which mentions the dreaded deed

The bible is absolutely clear that sex is a very wonderful and precious giftof God

c.f. the poetry of v.23

ii. Marriage

According to the bible in general and Genesis 2 in particular, sex is to be

experienced within the context of marriage. Indeed sex is part of the gluethat holds a marriage together (v.30), the RC teaching that sex is onlypermissible where there is the possibility of children resulting providing anincredible distortion of human sexuality which most Catholics wiselyignore..

As I said at the start, this passage could be viewed as the description of a

wedding, so what does Genesis 2.18-25 tell us about marriage?

o Its centrality – with every new marriage, a new micro community is

borno Its nature – an exclusive, implicitly lifelong, commitment between a man and a womano Its secret – a love modelled on that of God Himselfo Its heart – a depth of relationship unrivalled anywhere else

Does this mean that the bible condemns people who live together and arenot married, or have sex before or outside of marriage, or whose marriagedoes not last a lifetime? The bible doesn’t condemn anybody! However,it does tell us what is best and best means that

o Sex should be viewed as part of an exclusive, committed, relationship

that is best described as ‘marriage’, though clearly there is a vast difference between those who ‘sleep around’ and those who are ‘married’ in all but name only.o That it is ‘better to wait’ in spite of all the pressure that puts on people, especially given the large gap between puberty and the average age of marriageo That we shouldn’t lightly give up on a marriage, though there should also be understanding, support and the opportunity of a fresh start for those whose marriages come to an end iii. Sexism

Sky Sports video

Andy Gray and Richard Key’s comments this week are a gift to thepreacher on Genesis 2 because they highlight the issue of sexism whichsome would say has its roots in religious texts such as this

Kinder, kuche, kirke Martin Luther

On first sight, it can look that way…

18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helpersuitable for him.”19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all thebirds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; andwhatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gavenames to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam[f] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the manto fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’sribs[g]and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a womanfrom the rib[h] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.23 The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”However, a closer reading reveals no sexism here

o The term ‘helper’ is in no way belittling, in fact it is most commonly

used in the bible as a description of the Lord Himselfo The fact that the woman is created after the man in no way implies inferiority (c.f. the animals in Ch.1). If anything, the opposite is the case, the woman forming the pinnacle of creation. It is true that Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Timothy 2 seems to see significance in the order of the creation of Adam and Eve, but the meaning of these passages is widely disputed and such an interpretation, in my view, runs completely counter to the tenor of the bible’s teaching, including that of Paul himself.o The man does not ‘name’ the woman as he does the animals. His words in v.23 are more of a love song than a claim to authority.

Overall, I would suggest, there is a wonderful mutuality and reciprocity

about the relation between the man and the woman as described in Genesis2.

Not out of his head to rule over him, nor our of his feet to be trampled on by him, butout of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected and near his heartto be loved Matthew Henry

What are the implications for us?

o Men and women are to value each other – for sexism cuts both ways – and to learn to appreciate, indeed thrive upon the differences that exist between us c.f. language used in 1.23o The church has to accept that its attitude to women in the past has been seriously compromised by its misreading of scripture, its man centred approach to authority and, at times, its outright sexism.

Not many years back I regularly heard people telling us that womencouldn’t possibly be clergy because they were too emotional, or hadperiods, or lacked the necessary leadership qualities. I probably did itmyself. That’s Andy Gray talk and should be treated as such  III. Human beings are SPIRITUAL

We are social beings, we are sexual beings and, finally, we are spiritualbeings.

God is not absent from this part of the chapter, He is present at every pointin the story18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helpersuitable for him.”19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and allthe birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them;and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the mangave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam[f] no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused theman to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’sribs[g]and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made awoman from the rib[h] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

Then as now, if we leave God out of the picture, we miss so much of themeaning. We also fail to give thanks to the One who makes it all possible.

But we can and must take things further than that. God is not only theauthor and sustainer of life, He is its goal too. In the NT, Paul inEphesians 5 points to marriage as a powerful lived out model of whatGod’s love looks and feels like and as a pointer to that greater love thatawaits us in Him as we get to know Him. What we experience I humansociety and sexuality is only a feint echo of that.

Which is why GK Chesterton was not wrong when he said that

"Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God."

Of course, it is not an either or but a both and. We are made relationship